DERECK ROSE: MUSIC
SLAVERY NAMES
(DERECK ROSE)
I WROTE THIS SONG TO COMMEMORATE 200TH ANNIVERSARY SINCE THE ABOLISHMENT OF THE SLAVE TRADE, AND THE ROLL CALL IN THE SONG SIGNIFY'S MY ANGER OF HAVING HAD MY REAL AFRICAN NAME RIPPED AND TORN AWAY FROM ME, AND GIVEN THIS SLAVE MASTER'S NAME WHICH I MUST GIVE TO MY FUTURE GENERATIONS.
OUR TRUE FAMILY NAMES
HAVE BEEN ERASED FROM MIND AND HISTORY
AND TO TRACE OUR ANCESTORS
WOULD BE LIKE LOOKING FOR A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK
SO WE ROLL ALONG LIKE PEBBLES ON A RIVERBED
ANCIENT MEMORIES CHISELLED AWAY BY THE WATERS OF TIME
BUT YET THE DRUM OF THE HEART STILL BEATS DEEP WITHIN
THESE ARE SOME OF THE SURNAMES
WHICH WERE GIVEN TO OUR FOREPARENTS
BY THEIR WHITE SLAVEMASTERS’
WITH ONE VOICE WE ANSWER FOR THOSE
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.
1. ARMSTRONG
2. BROWN (present)
3. CHIBROSKY
4. DOWNER
5. EVANS
6. FERNANDINA
7. GRIFFIN
8. HENRY (present)
9. IRVIN
10. JOHNSON (present)
11. KING (absent)
12. LEADBETTER
13. MCDUFFIE
14. NELSON
15. O’BRIAN
16. POWELL (present)
17. QUINBY
18. ROSE (present)
19. SMITH (present)
20. THOMPSON (present)
21. UNDERWOOD
22. VERNON (present)
23. WILLIAMS (present)
24. X
25. YATES
26. ZIMMERMAN
THUS ENDS THE ROLL CALL OF NAMES
THAT WE INHERITED BECAUSE OF SLAVERY.
THOUGH OUR REAL NAMES HAVE BEEN
TOTALLY ERADICATED FROM HISTORY
YET WE MULTIPLY LIKE THE STARS IN HEAVEN.